Marita: I don’t follow any rules in any of my writing, hence why not many people can predict my storylines. While reading my books you will think one character is a certain way, then you will discover further along that they’re not like that at all. That’s the same with my plots. You can try to guess what will happen, but you will probably be wrong. That’s what makes my Dark Romance different from other Dark Romance.In regards to the characteristics of Dark Romance, the genre usually takes on the topics of kidnapping, human trafficking, stalking, some sort of obsession, or generally a dysfunctional relationship. Furthermore, it can, or usually does, have non consent and dubious consent sex scenes. Violence is another feature of a lot of Dark Romance, which makes sense since there are usually bad characters involved.That brings us to the characters. In Dark Romance there are anti heroes – the villains who cross the line and become what the female readers fixate on. Usually, they have a troubled past and are nasty, but show some vulnerable elements that will draw a reader to them. Often, it’s the male characters that are written like this, with the female usually being the victim. However, in My Masters’ Nightmare my main female character isn’t so much a victim as an illusion of one. She pretends to be a victim so she can bring down a mafia family. That’s not the norm for female characters in this genre; they’re usually not as feisty or vicious as my character Rita, who’s an FBI agent.

Marita:When I write it’s like I’m reading a book, with the words just flowing off my fingertips. So, I’m usually caught up with what’s happening than processing whether I’ve written something that has crossed the line. However, when I tidy up the text the full impact of what I’ve written settles in and I start to worry about how people will react to it. In regards to My Masters’ Nightmare, I was even more self-conscious since I pushed the boundaries so far I broke through them, going into areas that were more likely to be criticised. And since I was largely a street lit and realism writer, I started worrying about damaging my name by doing such shocking storylines. This is why I almost quit writing My Masters’ Nightmare. However, a group of fans talked me into continuing and I’m pleased I listened to them. Plus, My Masters’ Nightmare led to The Santini Brothers series, which is by far my most popular series. If that series was translated into Italian I can see it doing even better than My Masters’ Nightmare. It’s set in the same world as My Masters’ Nightmare and has cross-over characters. I also have another series based in the same world and with some of the same characters. It’s called The Five Families. All these stories are set in Sicily and follow the lives of the main mafia families.Quando scrivo è come se stessi leggendo un libro, le parole mi escono spontaneamente dalle dita. Perciò di solito sono presa da quello che sta succedendo e non mi rendo conto se ho scritto qualcosa che ha oltrepassato il limite. Tuttavia, quando sistemo il testo sento il pieno impatto di quello che ho scritto e inizio a preoccuparmi della reazione della gente. Per quanto riguarda My Masters’ Nightmare, ero ancora più a disagio visto che mi ero spinta così oltre da superare i limiti, affrontando temi che avrebbero incontrato critiche con più probabilità. E, visto che ero soprattutto un’autrice di urban fiction e storie realistiche, avevo iniziato ad aver paura di danneggiare il mio nome scrivendo trame tanto sconvolgenti. Per questo ho quasi smesso di scrivere My Masters’ Nightmare. Tuttavia, un gruppo di fan mi ha convinto a continuare e sono felice di avergli dato ascolto. Inoltre, My Masters’ Nightmare ha portato alla serie The Santini Brothers, che è di gran lunga la mia serie più popolare. Se venisse tradotta in italiano penso che avrebbe ancora più successo di My Masters’ Nightmare. È ambientata nello stesso mondo di My Masters’ Nightmare e ci sono dei personaggi che appaiono in entrambi. Ho scritto anche un’altra serie ambientata nello stesso mondo e alcuni personaggi sono gli stessi, si chiama The Five Families. Tutte queste storie sono ambientate in Sicilia e seguono la vita delle principali famiglie mafiose.Staff: Italian and Italian-American mob can be found in these series and in other unpublished novels in Italy, too. Are you of Italian origin, or you just like this kind of background?La mafia italiana e italo-americana è presente in questa serie e ho visto anche in altre inedite in Italia. Hai origini italiane o ti piace proprio questa ambientazione?

Overwhelmed (Blurred Lines, #1)

Marita: I’m not Italian, I’m full Croatian, but was born and bred in New Zealand. Frano, one of the two main male characters in My Masters’ Nightmare, is half Croatian, hence his Croatian name. I always incorporate Croatians into my stories. I usually always have Italians too, since my husband is part Italian and I have a Bachelor of Arts degree with Italian as one of my two majors. I took Italian because I was an Art History student and specialised in Italian Renaissance Art. Because of it, I have studied a lot of Italian history, literature, the language, and so forth. Though, I’m not particularly good at the language, I was better at the literature and art history side of things. That’s why I need a translator :) My Italian language skills are too basic.Non sono italiana, sono al 100% croata, ma sono nata e cresciuta in Nuova Zelanda. Frano, uno dei due protagonisti maschili di My Masters’ Nightmare, è per metà croato, da qui il suo nome croato. Aggiungo sempre dei croati nelle mie storie. Di solito ci metto sempre anche italiani, visto che mio marito è in parte italiano e io ho una laurea in discipline umanistiche e l’italiano è una delle due materie oggetto della mia laurea. Ho scelto l’italiano perché avevo studiato storia dell’arte e mi ero specializzata nell’arte italiana rinascimentale. Per questo motivo ho studiato un sacco di storia, letteratura, lingua – e così via – italiana. Però non sono molto brava con la lingua, andavo meglio in letteratura e storia dell’arte. Per questo mi serve una traduttrice :) La mia conoscenza della lingua italiana è troppo basilare.Staff:Rita Kovak is such a badass. Did you get inspiration from someone to create her character? Male characters, too, - I'm talking about Frano and Jagger - fascinate readers despite their actions, and to fall in love with such shady characters is a bit of a paradox: is this the power of writing?Rita Novak è una tipa davvero tosa. Hai preso ispirazione da qualcuno per la sua creazione? Anche i personaggi maschili, parlo di Frano e Jagger, nonostante le loro azioni affascinano le lettrici e innamorarsi di tipi così poco raccomandabili è un po’ un paradosso. Potere della scrittura?Marita: Rita isn’t based on anyone, other than being the antithesis of most female characters from Dark Romance. After reading another Dark Romance book, I got so annoyed at the main female character for being such a whiny victim that I decided to write a strong woman instead, one who at times can be just as violent and bad as the men. Episode 3 and 5 of My Masters’ Nightmare will prove just how tough and nasty Rita can get. But you will discover why she’s like this in later episodes, her actions all making sense.In regards to Frano and Jagger:I’ll start with Jagger. Everyone thinks he’s the main bad guy at the beginning, but I don’t write stock cut-out characters. Because of this, he isn’t what he seems. Instead, if anything, he’s the biggest victim of this series. Without giving away too much, I will just say, everyone has a past that makes us who we are and his one is devastating.Frano is more of a traditional male character. He also isn’t based on anyone, and is just a tough, hard-headed mob boss. Though, he also has vulnerabilities, just nowhere near as much as Jagger has. He is the most popular male in this series, Jagger being the second. Readers either find they’re attracted to his toughness or Jagger’s tortured soul.

Marita: Yes, I’m hoping to get The Santini Brothers series translated, which, as I said, is my most popular series. It can also be classified as Dark Romance, depending upon which brother it follows. Brando’s book was much darker than Ricardo’s. I may also get a teacher/student taboo book translated; though my street lit books may be too hard to translate into Italian. But if they are, I would have to go through them and alter a lot of the slang and phonetic dialogue.Sì, spero di far tradurre la serie The Santini Brothers, che, come ho già detto, è la mia serie più popolare. Anche questa può classificarsi nel genere Dark Romance, a seconda del fratello di cui si parla. Il libro su Brando era molto più dark di quello di Ricardo. Potrei anche far tradurre un libro sul tabù professore/alunno, anche se i miei libri del genere urban fiction potrebbero essere troppo difficili da tradurre in italiano. Ma se dovesse succedere, dovrei rivederli e cambiare buona parte dello slang e dei dialoghi fonetici.Staff:If you wanted to send a message to the Italian readers, both the ones who already know you and the ones who still don't, what would it be? You found a great Italian translator. Have you established a good relationship with her?Se tu volessi inviare un messaggio alle lettrici italiane, sia a quelle che già ti seguono che a quelle che ancora non hanno avuto la possibilità di conoscerti, quale sarebbe? Hai trovato una bravissima traduttrice italiana; possiamo pensare che ormai si è instaurato un rapporto d’amicizia fra di voi?Marita: Yes, I have a great translator. I’m very happy working with her. I think we work well together and we’ve had no problems. I do go through the English text before sending her it, since there are elements that can’t be directly translated into Italian. Furthermore, the English text has some Italian explanations that aren’t needed for Italian readers, and for the story to flow and make sense I’ve had to take these out. Additionally, I call the characters Italian in my English text, but clarify that they’re Sicilian in the Italian translation as certain things need to be emphasized to make sense. My translator has also done a great job with working with some of the more uniquely Americanisms in the story, especially with Matteo’s point of view. We’ve had to work more closely with his chapters since he has a lot of sayings that are not directly translatable. Matteo’s not only a pain in the neck for the other characters, but he’s also a pain for us too :) In regards to sending a message to my Italian readers, I would like to say thank you for reading My Masters’ Nightmare. I’m happy that it’s popular in Italy. And because of my Italian readers, I am now considering putting out a second season of My Masters’ Nightmare, which wasn’t going to happen prior to the series becoming popular in Italy.So, again, thank you for reading my stories, your support means a lot to me :)